In, my case, the car starts always, just sometimes it can take some seriously vigorous cranking for a good 10-15 seconds before it responds with any firing. Ofcourse mine is an 89 and has the cis-e semi-mechanical system on it. Even though I'm not completely familiar with the newer benze fi, I can offer some ideas for the newer systems. I know on a lot of other efi setups a water temp sensor, extra cold start injector (plus whatever sensors control the operation of the cold start injector), or o2 sensor. I know from selling parts for a couple years that a lot of times sensors can be off in reading enough to make things miserable without being so off as to set a check engine light. And an engine requires much more fuel to kick over when cold, so a sensor could do it. My car has the classic jetronic family of FI on it, anybody know if these things have a thermo-time switch like other jetronic setups, because I can't find it, or is it controlled by a water temp sensor or some other sensor on the cis-e cars? Any experience on the matter would be great.